Updates InSight mission news and updates

[IronRain]

NASA launch director Tim Dunn has confirmed ground controllers are receiving signals from InSight after its launch, as expected.

 

[DaveS]

NASA launch director Tim Dunn has confirmed ground controllers are receiving signals from InSight after its launch, as expected.

Yes, both MarCOs and Insight is alive and well and communicating with the DSN: https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html

 

[Messierhunter]

Here's some ground telescope tracking I did of InSight during its departure:

 

[IronRain]

 

[Nicholas Kang]

Some updates from the first deep-space cubesats.

NASA set a new distance record for CubeSats on May 8 when a pair of CubeSats called Mars Cube One (MarCO) reached 621,371 miles (1 million kilometers) from Earth. One of the CubeSats, called MarCO-B (and affectionately known as "Wall-E" to the MarCO team) used a fisheye camera to snap its first photo on May 9. That photo is part of the process used by the engineering team to confirm the spacecraft's high-gain antenna has properly unfolded.

As a bonus, it captured Earth and its moon as tiny specks floating in space.

Later this month, the MarCOs will attempt the first trajectory correction maneuvers ever performed by CubeSats. This maneuver lets them steer towards Mars, blazing a trail for CubeSats to come.

 

[Nicholas Kang]

First MCC completed!

NASA's InSight lander has made its first course correction toward Mars.

"This first maneuver is the largest we'll conduct," said Fernando Abilleira of JPL, InSight's Deputy Mission Design and Navigation Manager. "The thrusters will fire for about 40 seconds to impart a velocity change of 3.8 meters per second [8.5 mph] to the spacecraft. That will put us in the right ballpark as we aim for Mars."

Yesterday's 40-second burn relies on four of eight thrusters on the spacecraft. A separate group of four is autonomously fired on a daily basis to keep the spacecraft's solar panels trained on the Sun and its antennas pointed at Earth. While necessary to maintain orientation, these small, daily firings also introduce errors that navigators have to account for and counterbalance.

 

[Nicholas Kang]

Halfway!

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasas-insight-passes-halfway-to-mars-instruments-check-in

NASA's InSight spacecraft, en route to a Nov. 26 landing on Mars, passed the halfway mark on Aug. 6. All of its instruments have been tested and are working well.

As of Aug. 20, the spacecraft had covered 172 million miles (277 million kilometers) since its launch 107 days ago. In another 98 days, it will travel another 129 million miles (208 million kilometers) and touch down in Mars' Elysium Planitia region, where it will be the first mission to study the Red Planet's deep interior.

InSight's seismometer, which will be used to detect quakes on Mars, received a clean bill of health on July 19.

This long-exposure image (24 seconds) was taken by Instrument Context Camera (ICC) of NASA’s InSight Mars lander. The image shows some of the interior features of the backshell that encapsulates the spacecraft. The backshell carries the parachute and several components used during later stages of entry, descent, and landing. Along with the heatshield, the backshell protects NASA’s InSight Mars lander during its commute to and entry into the Martian atmosphere. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

 

[Notebook]

The American space agency has released a video describing the perilous journey its InSight probe will make to the surface of Mars later this month.
Fronted by Rob Manning, the chief engineer at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the film describes the various stages of what is termed "entry, descent and landing", or EDL.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46074794

 

[Notebook]

InSight: Nasa's Mars mission on target for landing
By Jonathan Amos
BBC Science Correspondent
21 November 2018

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46298259

 

[Notebook]

23 November 2018
The Red Planet will receive its first new resident in six years on Monday when NASA’s InSight lander touches down, aiming to investigate the Martian interior. ESA ground stations and orbiters are playing a crucial role in helping the mission get to its destination and deliver its data back to Earth.
On 26 November, NASA’s robotic science lab will land on the dusty Martian surface at 20:00 UTC (21:00 CET).

www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/ESA_lends_a_hand_at_Mars

 

[Notebook]

Interesting article about the sisemom, sieismom, sieze, ...the vibration detectors.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46332684

N.

 

[IronRain]

Interesting article about the sisemom, sieismom, sieze, ...the vibration detectors.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46332684

N.

:lol:

 

[Urwumpe]

Does somebody know if the HP3 probe had been tested against saltwater corrosion?

 

[Sunhillow]

Live stream will be broadcasted on NASA webcast from 19:00 UTC:
https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/timeline/landing/watch-online/

 

[mahdavi3d]

 

[IronRain]

Stream is live!

 

[Zandy12]

I'm watching it! I'm so excited hopefully all goes well. Who is eating some peanuts? lol

---------- Post added at 07:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:15 PM ----------

Does anybody know if the Mars Cube One satellites will enter Martian orbit or will they slingshot?

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Slingshot

 

[Yuri_Gagarin]

ENTERING

 

[GLS]

Intact or in pieces, it is now on the surface... we are just waiting for the signals to travel between Mars and Earth.